Georgia O'Keeffe

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I don't trust words.

Words and I are not good friends at all.

A painter using words,

it's like a baby trying to walk.

Better to let the picture speak on its own

than try to help it along with a word.

What has happened to me in the past

and how it has happened...

I don't think that's anyone's business,

except my own.

You just look at the paintings,

see what you can see in the paintings.

That's all you have a right to see.

That's all I will allow you to see.

So, there.

Someone else's vision will never be

as good as your own vision of yourself.

Live and die with it.

Because in the end, that's all you have.

Lose it, and you lose yourself

and everything else.

I should have listened to myself.

Extraordinary, aren't they?

Drawn by a woman.

Yes.

- Please take them down.

- Beg your pardon?

You heard me.

Yes, I did, but...

No, I will not take them down.

And who the devil do you think you are,

anyway?

I am Georgia O'Keeffe,

and these are my drawings...

...and I think that... No, I am sure...

You never asked my permission

to show them, did you?

- No, I did not ask your permission.

- Well, then you'll have to take them down.

Do you have any idea what you have done

in these pictures?

Of course I do. Do you think I'm an idiot?

No, I think you are a revelation.

Well, no one else seems to share

your opinion.

For God's sake, woman.

I've hung your work

next to some of the greatest artists.

...of this or any age...

Picasso, Matisse, Dove, Hartley,

Braque, Czanne.

And I've done so because I see in your work

the same raw, intuitive...

...irrational, unconscious, untutored talents

from whence all true creativity erupts...

...male or female.

And you, Miss O'Keeffe, have no more right

to withhold these pictures.

...than you have to withdraw a child

from the world...

...if you had given birth to one.

You sure can talk.

In every painting,

there is all of your life coming back at you...

...not just one flower or a piece of bone or sky.

That's just what you see at the end

when the work is finished.

But at the start,

when you look at the empty canvas...

...you see your whole life looking back at you.

I learned that from Mr. Stieglitz.

Everything I know I learned from him,

or because of him, or in spite of him.

Well, hello.

- I'll take your bag.

- Thank you.

So...

This is it.

It belongs to my niece, Elizabeth...

...but you'll be welcome to stay

as long as you want.

I work a little in here,

but I don't use that room at all.

Apart from the closet. I use it as a...

I'm sorry. These...

I shouldn't have put these on here.

I use the darkroom a little bit

for storing things and developing...

...but this will be your room.

See, I don't live here.

I live up on Madison with my family, my wife.

- I did mention I had a wife?

- Yes.

Good.

So you wouldn't be disturbed here at all.

We would schedule my work.

...so that it didn't conflict

with your creative necessities...

...and my visits would be promulgated

on your permissions.

Well...

- it's a very attractive proposition.

- Yeah, it's...

A room of my own in the city of New York.

And all it will cost me

is a few regularly scheduled visits.

- From my benefactor. Is that the idea?

- No!

No, no. I didn't mean...

I didn't mean to imply...

I believe you did.

I'm sorry, Mr. Stieglitz.

I can't help being honest.

- No.

- I don't know if it's a fault in my nature.

...or a good thing,

but I've never had any choice in the matter.

I do have a teaching position in Texas,

and they're expecting me to return.

- In Texas? Where in Texas?

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